Designer Notes #90: Patrice Desilets – Part 2

In this episode, Soren interviews veteran game designer Patrice Desilets, best known for his work on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the Assassin’s Creed series, and Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey. They discuss why they couldn’t put rewind into Assassin’s Creed, the problem with designing for a meeting, and why he needed to have players beat up the pope. This episode was recorded on April 15, 2025.

Games discussed: Assassin’s Creed, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the Civilization series, Assassin’s Creed II, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, 1666 Amsterdam, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

https://www.idlethumbs.net/designernotes/episodes/patrice-desilets-part-2

3 thoughts on “Designer Notes #90: Patrice Desilets – Part 2

  1. The discussion of design constraints is a good reminder that small rule sets can produce a lot of meaningful player choice. That’s also why compact logic games like https://www.binarypuzzle.space/ work when the feedback is immediate and the puzzle state stays legible. A binary grid can be simple on the surface while still asking players to reason carefully about each move.

  2. Pingback: Designer Notes #90: Patrice Desilets – Part 2

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *